The sheer number of films that have been made over the last century is staggering. Some of these movies become massive hits with the audience and the box office, remaining within the public consciousness for decades to come, while others fade away into obscurity after their brief stay in the limelight. In recent years, re-makes of classic movies has become more and more popular. With re-makes, filmmakers take an older film and place it within a more modern context.

This is exactly what director Scott Derrickson hopes to do successfully with The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 film of the same name. The original film, directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, and Hugh Marlowe, was a black-and-white science fiction film that depicted an extraterrestrial being and his visit to earth. Derrickson’s version hopes to update the concept of the film to make it more applicable to a modern audience while maintaining the same eerie charm of the original. The movie will be released in theaters on December 12, 2008.

The 1951 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still begins with a flying saucer landing in President’s Park in Washington D.C., from which an alien named Klaatu emerges. Frightened and surprised by Klaatu’s sudden appearance on Earth, the soldiers that respond to the situation are wary of Klaatu’s actions. When Klaatu brandishes a mysterious-looking device, a nervous soldier shoots and wounds the alien, but it is later discovered that Klaatu, in fact, is on a visit of goodwill to the United States. Taken into hospital care, Klaatu tries to figure out how to gather the world’s leaders together to deliver his message, but when he is told that such a feat would be impossible, he instead escapes so that he may live among the people and get to know them better. Realizing that he cannot go around and blend in with the name “Klaatu”, the alien decides to assume the name “Mr. Carpenter”.

As Mr. Carpenter, the alien goes to a boarding house where he meets Helen and Bobby Benson, a mother and son. Helen, who is a widow, and her boyfriend Tom plan to take a day-trip getaway, so Mr. Carpenter agrees to take care of Bobby. Together with Bobby, Klaatu visits the Arlington National Cemetery where, much to his dismay, Klaatu learns that all of the graves at the cemetery belong to soldiers killed in the line of duty. They also visit the Lincoln Memorial and the remains of Klaatu’s spaceship. Suddenly, Klaatu becomes curious of who the greatest American is, inspired by the Gettysburg Address, and when he asks Bobby who this might be, Bobby names Professor Barnhardt, who is a leading American scientist. They quickly make their way to Barnhardt’s home, but when the scientist is not there, Klaatu solves one of Barnhardt’s advanced mathematical problems on Barnhardt’s study and leaves his name and address with the housekeeper.

Eventually, a group of government agents comes to retrieve Klaatu and bring him to Barnhardt, where Klaatu finally reveals his mission: Klaatu has come to warn the people of Earth that if atomic power is overused, Earth will be destroyed. Barnhardt believes Klaatu, but also begs him to demonstrate his power. To do so, Klaatu returns to the spaceship so that he can recover some of his belongings. Bobby, who trailed Klaatu to the spaceship and saw him interact with the wreckage, excitedly reveals to Helen and Tom that Klaatu is the spaceman, a claim that the pair initially does not believe. Helen comes to believe Klaatu, though, when the two share an elevator that suddenly stops. Klaatu reveals that he has shut down electricity all over the world, except for critical uses like in hospitals and on airplanes, and gets Helen to pledge her help to him. When Tom discovers this, he threatens to tell the government of Klaatu’s disguise, and Helen runs to Klaatu to tell him of Tom’s plot.

Sadly, though, a group of government officials see Helen and Klaatu together, and despite Klaatu’s attempt to flee, they shoot him dead. Before he died, Klaatu told Helen to utter a special phrase to Klaatu’s robot companion should anything ever happen. When she does this, Klaatu’s robot companion momentarily revives Klaatu, and with his last bit of life, Klaatu explains to an assembled group of scientists that man’s penchant for destructive war has been the concern of neighboring planets for many centuries. He also informs man that Klaatu’s people have made a race of robot enforcers that have absolute power to deal with any violence, and that if the people of Earth do not abandon their violent ways and join the rest of the peaceful nations, they, along with the planet, will be destroyed. Klaatu then hops aboard the spaceship and departs, leaving the decision to continue warfare with humanity.

Director Scott Derrickson’s version will obviously be similar to the 1951 version of the film, but one of the most notable differences is the fact that Klaatu will come to warm man about global warming and the threat of destroying the Earth through unwise decisions rather than the threat of warfare. Also in the upcoming version of the film, Klaatu will have a negative perception of man to begin with, and when he is barred from meeting with the United Nations and the rest of the world leaders, he will have already decided that Earth’s inhabitants should be destroyed so that the planet can be saved. Instead of acting as an accomplice, Dr. Helen Benson and her stepson Jacob have to work to convince Klaatu that humanity is worth saving and that they can change their ways.

An excellent cast of actors is slated to appear in Derrickson’s version of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Keanu Reeves, known for his starring role in the hit movie The Matrix, will star as the human form of Klaatu. Although Reeves expressed his dislike for remakes of older movies, he was reportedly impressed by the script and classified more as a reimagining than a remake in the sense of the word. Jennifer Connelly, known best for her roles in Requiem for a Dream and A Beautiful Mind, will play Helen Benson, who in the Derrickson version of the movie is an astrobiologist at Princeton University rather than a tenant at the boarding house where Klaatu winds up. Child actor Jaden Smith will make his acting debut as Jacob, Helen Benson’s rebellious stepson, while Monty Python actor John Cleese will make a cameo as Professor Barnhardt.

All in all, if you have ever seen the original version of The Day the Earth Stood Still, you will most likely be interested in what Scott Derrickson has done in regards to reimagining of the plot. Rather than a world torn by war, Derrickson’s conception of the world that Klaatu is sent to salvage is one of environmental ignorance. With a talented cast of actors and huge names in the industry working on special effects, cinematography, and sound, The Day the Earth Stood Still looks to be an exciting science-fiction adventure that will do the original justice. Although the plot has been altered a bit to make the whole experience more dramatic, the essential concept behind the film remains the same.